Things I Love Thursday

♥ The only Uggs I will ever love! I got these serious snow stomping boots for Christmas last year and they keep my feet toasty warm.

♥ Having a lot more time to do...nothing ♥ Drawing again, and realizing I haven't forgotten how to do so. ♥ Black Swan meeting my expectations and being unexpectedly funny [to me anyway], wanting to dig out my Halloween costume. ♥ Trying new foods, and enjoying it! ♥ "Grown up" dinner parties with Catchphrase and Apples to Apples

♥ I discovered these candles at Lamb and want to buy all they have to offer to fill my room. Next: white chocolate cocoa.

Thanksgiving!

The Curious Stanley Pup

One year ago today I was in Amsterdam with some friends eating all you can eat ribs at a bar near our hotel. The weather was so frigid cold I only took my Flip camera out long enough to video the holiday lights strung up between buildings. I sorely missed green bean casserole and baked sweet potatoes! In addition to being thankful for the family, loves and other close friends, here are some things that come to mind - serious and silly:

Dessert at Mangiamo! for my 21st, back in September

• Finally being of age to enjoy a drink with dinner. This means discovering new places to eat downtown. Yum!
• New winter fragrance worthy scents a la Bond No. 9. Astor Place has replaced my Chance by Chanel that I had been using every fall since 2007.
• New cozy comforter that fits my bed. Perfect for hibernating.

With Gannon after his regional championship game

• My brother &dad are back in good health. They both went through some rough times earlier this year and I couldn't be more happy that they are well.
• New friends and dinner parties
• Loving my roommates and my new home. I'm especially thankful for our subleaser, Diane [2 in one house, oh my]. She's amazing, and apparently my sister according to a stranger we encountered on my birthday:

Halloween 2k10

• Working as a fashion marketing intern at Leigh's, a specialty store in GR. I'm currently working on a fun mannequin project that can be followed here.
• On track to graduate from university next semester! This is still quite a bit frightening to me.
• Changes!

Conan is back!

&Now, to begin my Thanksgiving eating marathon! Cheers!

Hiatus...Over?

The semester, work and an amazing internship have been taking up much of my time. I'm back!

Monday Mad List

1. People who think there is an "x" in the word "espresso".


2. MTV/E!/VH1 shows that enlist of D-list comedians or washed up stars to comment on outrageous videos of criminals or celebrities. Who are you? Funny clips speak for themselves - what's more laughable is your career [or lack thereof].


3. Flies. There must be a gaping hole in one of our window screens that has allowed upwards of 30 flies into our apartment. That, or a Biblical plague of some sort. I just trapped about 20 in one of the dining room windows. What the hell?


4. Shedding. Since my luscious lockz have grown past my shoulders I find loose hair everywhere. It falls out constantly and I have to make a conscious effort to clean the bathroom daily so that I don't become overwhelmed by my wookie hairs. Seriously, every shower yields a Locks of Love donation.

VA Beach

In June, we went home to Virginia Beach where I indulged in as much seafood as I [&my wallet] could manage in two weeks. We went to the bay when the humidity wasn't suffocating, had a reunion with childhood friends, introduced Ryan to my extended family & ate some more.

The crab cakes shown above were by far the best that I've ever had, from a local restaurant called Surf Rider. I'm pretty sure that the cakes were made almost entirely of crab, glued together with the slightest bit of batter. I could live on these things.

I love my mom's parents so much. I think this photo sums up their personalities perfectly - my Papop's jovial mood juxtaposed with Lola's seemingly unapproachable frown.

I believe I inherited wanting to film everything that moves from my dad. Funny he was the most resistant in our family to owning a cell phone 5 years ago.

The only picture of me from the entire trip was a messy blur.

Stanley Pup

I've been neglecting this. To make up for it: here's the new pup: Stanley Pup.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have a bad habit of buying fruit and letting it get soft before I an finish it. The first time I made these, I polished off an entire bundle of bananas for the recipe. They're the best muffins I've ever made, from a banana bread recipe that I modified.

Unfortunately, a couple of squirrels chewed into a bag of these when we were on spring break. Tragic.

Monday Mad List

1. Your Cheap Perfume: Not sure why campus smells like someone raided Bath &Body Works today, but my sneeze count was well over 10 after my first class. Honestly, your cheap perfume is a health hazard.


2. Job Search: I continue to put more effort into applying for minimum wage jobs than I did applying to University of Michigan. Sad. Not to mention, where the hell am I supposed to earn experience as a server if all restaurants [even seedy chain restaurants] only want "experienced" staff? Give me a break.


3. Photo Repeats: Why, why, why does taking a group photo necessitate 6 cameras of the same shot? I de-tagged myself from literally 20 pictures that were virtually the same on Facebook this morning.


4. Facebook Taking Over: After I tried to remove myself from a tagged photo, Facebook told me "You do not have permission to do that." Um, what?


5. Closed Courses: I scheduled all but one of my classes that I need in order to graduate on time next year. Of course, the one closed class is only offered in winter semesters. Fabulous!

Barcelona

 

 

Nicole &I in Barcelona, sunrise at the airport in Girona, Spain.

Looking around at the "organized" clutter in my bedroom, I still can't believe that my Roma roommates and I won the "cleanest apartment" award last semester, and use of an apartment in Barcelona for the weekend. Only Nicole, Sasha and I could make the trip, but it was a nice weekend.

Highlights: Picasso museum [+ his collection of erotic Japanese prints...ahha], three hour bike tour around the city, sadly staying in the first night considering we woke up at 4 a.m. and all felt sick, being flashed by a creepy old man, Zara and Desigual, beautiful Spanish people, lost in translation at a tapas bar which resulted in paying for a lot of food we didn't ask for, watching an awesome flamenco show while sipping sangria, churros slathered in chocolate, gazpacho for lunch and paella at a restaurant attached to a market. I was also really excited that the McDonalds at the airport sold fresh orange juice.

We really didn't have a clue where we were going at night, so we definitely need to make a visit again when it's warm enough to lay on the beach. I also should revisit the Spanish language seeing as virtually all the Spanish I once knew from K-12 has since been replaced by Italian.

Sasha on a break at one of the points in our tour. We learned a lot in those few hours, and definitely pedaled our butts off.

This was the most gorgeous park, ever.

Monday Mad List

Check out those teeth sitting sideways.

First day: a "medium" Jamocha shake that was larger than my head. This + squash soup was my first dinner after surgery.

This week's list is short: wisdom teeth. Useless.

So Hungry Right Now.

I thought I'd done a pretty good job without solid food within the past 24 hours, but I just woke up from dreams about amazing food. The closest things I've had to solid food since I got my wisdom teeth out have been antibiotics and narcotics.

It hasn't even been a full week back from Florida, and my violent craving for seafood has reached new heights at 4a.m. I desperately want to relive my dinner experience at The Boot that I had with my best friend Bridget when I came back from Italy.

We've eaten there twice, and both times I've left with my jeans unbuttoned and ripe with food baby. The restaurant supports local, organic food and is a part of the slow food movement. [Delicious]. We didn't take pictures of our cheese plate because it was gone in about 5 minutes, but it had all kinds of amazing local cheese [my favorite we ate with honey].

I had the mahi mahi special and Bridget had giant scallops over pasta.
And I'm going to make some oatmeal and pretend it's something else.

Things I Love Thursday

Palm trees on Fort Myers Beach, Florida

♥ Being the darkest I've been since I was 14.

♥ Funny tan lines

♥ Playing Scrabble in bed with Ryan

♥ Reorganizing my room to maximize space for ACTIVITIES!

♥ Winning a Greek sponsored spelling bee with Anna

♥ Fried scallops

♥ Discovering caramel macchiatos made with soy and hazelnut syrup

[Late] Travel Tuesday

Here's a video I put together from my 20th birthday weekend [September 18-20, 2009] in southern Italy with my Roma roommates. The hostel didn't have enough room for all of the students on our trip, so the six of us were given our own apartment [complete with an elevator x_x].

We took a ferry to the island of Capri and laid out on the rocks, sipped Coronas and took a two hour cruise around the island. We also had the opportunity to jump overboard and swim through a grotto [not the Blue Grotto, as the water was too high].

The next day, we rented motorinos for a modest 35€ a day and drove to Positano. [More on that, later!]

Before we returned to Roma on my birthday, we took the train to Pompeii and got some funny tan lines!

Best weekend of my life.

Monday Mad List

Pet peeves this past week:

1. When my roommates lock the door while they're in the house. During the day. We live in corn town West Michigan, what the fuck are you trying to keep out?


2. Not knowing when to buy a new foundation seeing as I am getting increasingly more brown! This can also be a good thing, I suppose.


3. No tour dates for Conan's upcoming "half assed" comedy tour in Michigan! Looks like I'll be making my way to Chicago.


4. Not having a pug to love & to hold.

Dirty South

Skype with Sinouhe and Renato back in Roma.

Driving to Florida for the week in about half an hour. We're camping on the beach, pretty much. Oh, and I think I'll be stopping at Disney on my way back home!

Monday Mad List

1. Girls who ask you what you're wearing out for the night. Just...why? So we can out-dress each other?


2. Professors who start class at 11:59 a.m.


3. Drunk, belligerent kids living in the apartment across from me who throw snowballs at my window at 2 a.m.


4. Canada winning the gold medal hockey game & Sidney Crosby scoring the winning goal.


5. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Now I know why my Nutella just isn't the same in the States or why Coca Cola tastes so much better in Europe. Thank you Sav-A-Lot for carrying Mexican Coke in glass bottles made with real sugar.

Neckerations

I want to invest in jewelry that doesn't fall apart easily - and I'd like to start with this. The turquoise is perfect.

Antwerpen

Train station in Antwerp[en], Belgium.

We passed through this train station en route to Amsterdam from Brussels early some morning in November. Everything from Brussels to the Antwerpen station was desolate &gray, so this interior was a pleasant surprise. We found a waffle stand with fresh chocolate &white chocolate syrup for breakfast.

Mad Monday

Time to get over that case of the Mondays! Things that annoy and irritate this past week:

1. No Taco Bell within a 10 mile radius of my university.
2. Impacted wisdom teeth. This requires no explanation.
   
3. Finding expired Oikos yogurt at the back of my fridge. :'(
   

Food Porn Friday

Some tasty macarons I bought in Brussels. They look like colorful cheeseburgers! Still, the chocolate mocha is arguably the best.

ALSO: Valentine's chocolate boxes on sale! Nom! :3

Macarons!

Some tasty macarons I bought in Brussels. They look like colorful cheeseburgers! Still, the chocolate mocha is arguably the best.

ALSO: Valentine's chocolate boxes on sale! Nom! :3